When the legislature convenes tomorrow, we hope it will quickly adopt the recommendations of a recent task force on child abuse, especially the one allowing evidence of so-called "signature crimes," commonly referred to as propensity evidence, to be used in child sexual abuse cases.

We are disappointed that the child porn charges against Fr. Rudy Bullman have been dropped. Fr. Bullman was caught with images of nude boys on his hand held game console and his personal computer. Children are safest when predators are behind bars.

A predatory New Hampshire priest has just been found working in a Philadelphia area school, despite the fact that Catholic officials have paid a settlement to at least one of his victims and promised he’d never be around kids again.

The thousands upon thousands of long-secret Catholic documents that describe horrific crimes against children by members of the catholic clergy have come to light only because of brave victims. Catholic officials have used every weapon in their vast arsenal to keep these files hidden and keep Catholics and citizens in the dark about their involvement in moving, shielding and enabling predators. We hope that the judicial system will not only release all the documents but allow the names of all complicit church staff to be made public.

Though the child sex abuse trial involving a Catholic priest and Catholic teacher starts this week, it’s never too late for other victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to step forward and help make sure these criminals are convicted and kept away from kids.

Like prosecutors, this brave mom accuses Victory church employees of refusing to report – for weeks - child sex crimes by a church janitor. We hope she prevails in court. And we hope her filing this suit will discourage other officials from ignoring, minimizing or hiding suspected child sexual assaults.

When an adult sexually violates a minor, it's never "a relationship" or "an intimate interaction." It's a crime. It should be described and treated like a crime. It should never be depicted as consensual, because by definition, a 16 year old cannot truly consent to sex involving someone twice his or her age.